Dragon age: On the Griffon's wings
by Drakon Hunter
Summary: I lived. I should have died. It all just gets worse from there. I did some bad things sure, I mean I'm a blood mage. How? I don't know. All I know is that I'm strong enough to get through this, for my family and them alone. Who am I you ask? Well, that's good to hear, someone who doesn't worship the ground I walk upon. I am the hero of Ferelden... and the Inquisitor as well.


**_Enjoy this tale of mine, about a warrior whose done his time on the battlefield, only to return with no other choice in hand. My first hand at Dragon Age, so again, enjoy._**

 ** _I own none of this._**

 _I heard once that birds are free, that to fly through peerless skies would be enlightening. But you only fly when the soul is free._

 _Then I rode upon the Griffon's wings_

 _ **Chapter 1. A Reunion of Legends**_

Beren Sabrae Anwae, mage of high standard, well known arcane warrior, unknown, and albeit unwilling blood mage, the gray warden of the Sabrae clan, stood beholding the archdemon of the fifth blight. He glanced back at the rest of the men, dwarves, and elves following him.

"I'm fairly certain that you all are going to have to hold off the darkspawn while I fight it," he had said grimly while smoothly beheading a darkspawn with his blade, Starfang.

They, of course, looked at him like he was mad. Beren sighed, and pointed behind them, where a small horde of darkspawn, including quite a few emissaries and ogres, moved towards the group. "That's your fight," he pointed towards the archdemon, "And this is mine."

He moved swiftly over to Alistair, "I might survive this in the end, but if not…" He shook the templar's hand, "Become the king you need to be," Beren gave the whisper of a smile, "Hell, be better than what you need to be"

"You better be back Beren, I won't have anyone to keep that mabari from gnawing on my boots otherwise," The warden chuckled at that, then turned to face to archdemon.

Anwae hurriedly fell into the stance of the arcane warrior, and raised the shield he had gained from killing the demon Gaxkang. He was pleased to find the demons form laid also in the fade, as he had hoped. The warden urged his blade's runes to empower him, and that they did.

The elf lept from the ground to the demon's location in a fine display acrobatics. A spell was on his lips as he slashed his blade across the dragon's wings. Blazing heat and blistering cold then covered the area in which they fought. The beast breathed a great gout of flame from her gullet, blasting away the spell.

Storm and death then surrounded them, followed soon by blood. The warden looked in rage as the demon had begun to move towards the others. Casting various spells upon his blade, he then used it to sever a tendon in the "god's" leg. The dragon screamed, glaring at the warden. Anwae could feel the taint seize up inside his very blood. Blood, blood the warden thought. Summoning a dagger of ice, the maleficar matched what happened to his body with that of the demon's. A sigil was then cut onto his own hand, one that would weaken the soul's connection to its corporeal form.

Anwae then severed the connection between them, and poured magic into the dragon's sigil. It howled in pain, both physical and ethereal. The warden felt his strength wane ever faster. Knowing he had not much time, he swiftly burned another circle onto the demon, this time encompassing its entire chest. Anwae looked deep into the fade, muttering, "I see you Urthemiel," and pluged his sword deep into the sigil, using its own tainted blood to guide the blade toward the beast's heart.

The blade struck true, the beast wailing in pain. The mage forced magic deep into the false god, wrapping it around the monster's soul. He cried out in the effort of yanking the soul away from its corrupted form. Nevertheless, he succeeded, the beast's soulless husk slumping down to the ground. Beren then began to mutter words of great power in order to seal the gods soul into the very blade which had taken its life.

A sinister shade of sanguine then burst forth from the blade as it shot out from the corpse of the god. Beren could see it existed in both here and in the fade, he cut off the blade's connection to the physical realm, after which it disappeared into the fade, lost for what the elf hoped was all eternity.

Anwae stared for a few moments at the dragon's corpse, then laughed, walked a few feet, and promptly fell to his knees with exhaustion. He was crying tears of joy now, he looked up and saw his dog charge into him, cleaning his face rather thoroughly with licks. The elf then glanced over to the rest of the people who were walking towards him. He stumbled to Leliana, and leaned on her shoulder.

"I don't suppose you'll make a song of what happened here, right?" He murmured at the bard.

She smiled, "Only if you don't want me to," Beren weakly laughed in response.

"Well, go ahead. And feel free to embellish it as much as you like," The elf stumbled, "I don't feel...," The hero then fell unconscious from many a thing happening to him.

I awoke breathing heavily from the dream. It had been well over a year since that had happened. Then again, wardens always have dreams like this. Wincing, I reached for my sword, Vigilance. It's touch reassured me. Hearing a knock at my tent door, I finished clothing myself and opened it to find Finn waiting to finish our quest to find Morrigan.

After the long trek across a wide area of land, we finally came to a place I, (rather unfortunately), remember very well. There was still a foul stench in the air from where the broodmother used to be located. My hand started to feel rather warm, glancing down, I noticed the ring Morrigan had given me so long ago had begun to slightly glow.

My dog, Wells, barked and ran behind the area where I had fought the Mother, and, lo and behold, there she was, Morrigan. I stopped for a moment, then calmly walked over to her, smiling.

"It's been a while, Morrigan." That being said, I glanced back at the great mirror standing behind her, "I take it that's the eluvian?"

Her eyes widened, her face paling, just as though she was seeing a ghost, although she hid that expression away quickly. "Tis an eluvan yes…. how do you still live?"

I had honestly winced at that response, but nevertheless replied. "Using a god's magic against them. Maleficarum is what they shouted at me, blood mage… ungrateful bastards. You'd think that despite the means, the price would be worth the outcome."

She shook her head in disbelief, "Unbelievable"

At this I laughed sadly and looked her in the eyes, "But not unharmed, I lost you. That was a blow I could never deal with myself."

She smiled lightly, but only for a moment. "You have a child," she said looking at me, waiting for a reaction.

A couple thoughts went through my head when she said that. first being shock, followed shortly by a rather bemused happiness. "Well…," I laughed "I'm a father. Is our child a boy? A girl?"

"Male, a, well, a kind child at the very least. I would tell you more, But there are greater matters as of now. Flemeth lives, Beren."

My smile turned to a frown in a moment while I thought. "So, I suppose that's why you're here then. You seek to flee from her, whatever she is. I may need to come with you, after all, I'm the one who tried to kill her."

"I couldn't ask you to do that. Do you realize what would happen if you did that? What you would be losing?"

I sighed heavily, "I would be losing something worse if you left. A family, and that would just reopen old wounds. You don't need to ask me to do it." I whistled to Wells, who ran straight over to me.

"I hope you're not against having a dog again," I said with a cheeky grin while I moved towards her. I glanced back at Finn, and motioned for him to leave. With that done, I kissed Morrigan for the first time in what had been over a year's span. We moved through the eluvian, to our new life.

As usual, I awoke with a headache. Something that wasn't as usual was that I woke up in shackles surrounded by the knight templars. My hand felt as though it had been dipped in metal, and was on a steady path of pain. It glowed with a hellish-green glow. Also not normal.

The door in front of me had suddenly opened with my awakening. Moving towards me was a woman I was unfamiliar with, baring the crest of a seeker, the other woman approaching me I knew very well, a rather religious woman named Liliana.

"Liliana? Why…?" My hand flared again, I nearly shouted from the pain of it.

"Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now," Said the seeker, vehemently. "What you did destroyed the conclave, the divine, and may well have destroyed whatever chance of peace there was if the negotiations were to have taken place."

"I don't understand... Why did I even decide to come to this meeting?" I shook my head. "I have no memory of what happened after I arrived at the meet." That being said I looked to Liliana.

"Beren, what are you doing here?! First you disappear for years, Then you just reappear here of all places" She too shook her head.

"Do you know this man Liliana?," The seeker seemed very irritated

"This is the hero of Ferelden, Beren Sabrae Anwae." Her voice clearly indicated anger, "He may well be the only one powerful enough to do this."

"I don't understand what, 'This,' is," I said infuriated. "I came here to speak with both sides of the groups as a neutral party. A gray warden generally isn't supposed to be involved in political affairs, but what they were doing could have resulted in some very bad things, things like 'This'. What would I gain from it anyway? Fame? Fortune? I've had both, and enjoyed neither!"

The seeker glared at me, I glared back. Calming myself, I said, "If you need to stop what's happened, I'm probably the best one to do it." That being said I looked at the templars around me. I had spent much time with Morrigan at that point, to where she had taught me the secrets of shape shifting. It had heightened my sense of smell and sight to a ludicrous level. To the point where I could sense the fear in those templars watching me.

I morphed into a wolf, and back in a split moment, fast enough to escape the shackles that covered me. The templars yelped, while I just leaned back against the wall behind me. "So, I need to go try to do something about this dilemma of ours, join me if you want, stay if you don't. This can't be that much worse than the Archdemon, if it's as bad as you say."

The seeker looked to Liliana, who nodded, "I'm going to need a weapon of some sort. A sword and shield if at all possible," Leliana said a couple of terse words, and they brought in a templars blade and shield. I thanked her, and tilted my head toward the seeker.

"My name is Cassandra, right hand of the divine. I see you already know the left hand, Liliana," She motioned toward her.

I nodded a yes, and moved to leave the room. That's when I first saw the breach. It had some kind of otherworldly beauty to it, but then again, it was also going to consume the world if it wasn't stopped.

A rather odd dwarf followed us out. With red hair, laugh lines on his face, and a crossbow of a rather peculiar design. The seeker let out what sounded oddly like a hiss, Anders would've had a good laugh at that.

"What are you doing here _dwarf,_ " She spat out. the Ginger chuckled slightly, "Calm down seeker, no need for anything like that. It honestly looks like you need help here, judging by appearances."

I myself sighed rather indignantly, it seems that everyone was rather hugely underrating my abilities. The damned council of magi had tried to make me a grand enchanter for Mythal's sake. Seriously, I'm a warden, with no free time, and they EXPECT me to accept something like that? For some reason, that makes me glad the circles were effectively dissolved.

Besides that point, I slammed the blade of the templar sword into the ground, channeling massive amounts of magic through it. With a grunt, I yanked out the weapon. Huge roots sprang out of the ground, wrapping around demons in about a mile radius.

Shocked silence prevailed for a moment, with everyone staring at me in genuine disbelief. A slight blush touched my features. " What? That's a parlor trick for a keeper, come on, we've got to go."

Leliana was still staring at me, "Since when were you a keeper?!" I raised an eyebrow. It was funny how much stronger I became since that fight against the Archdemon. Hell, even the fade was my playground.

"Since when did were you next in line to be a divine? Like for like. I'm scary Ana, very very scary, I think you'll figure out just how much fairly soon," I remember the last time I didn't hold back. It was back in the deep roads, and it gave back nearly a tenth of the actual roads themselves. Sure, I was unconscious for a while after that, but I was officially labeled the most powerful grey warden in existence. Next to that guy that killed Dumat anyway. Even so, he didn't kill an Archdemon by himself.

Striding forward in silence for what seemed hours, the pain in my palm steadily grew worse, to the point of it feeling numb with the pain. We went forth, eventually reaching a… Smaller breach? A rift would be a better word for it.

Again my hand pulsed, seeming like liquid fire. Great demons rose from the ground, which I recognized very well. Pride demons. Five of them.

Growling in fury, the blade in my hand glowed an ethereal green, before I smote the first demon, causing it to scream. Fire danced along it, lightning trailed behind it, and a miasma of death engulfed it. I wasn't selected to be a Grand Enchanter for nothing.

Gathering wind in my palm, I slammed it into demon number two, throwing it into the rift behind it. Snapping my fingers, a bolt of lightning arced down from the sky, disintegrating demon number three entirely. Tapping my foot, a crevice opened up in the ground, swallowing demon number four whole. At this point I was starting to breathe a bit heavier. Not much though.

Raising my blade, I danced around the final beast, striking furiously. A moment later it had disintegrated into a fine dust. The dance of the gryphon, my favorite thing about being a warden is that they are just so damn good with a blade. Again I was met with silence at the level of my power, pride demons were one of the most powerful things in existence, and I slaughtered them with apparent ease.

Paying no mind to that, my arm suddenly rose, almost forcefully, and shot out a beam of ethereal energy towards the rift. A loud shattering sound was heard, and it had closed. A key to the fade? Is that what I am now? Just my luck, it wasn't enough that I was a warden, THE warden, but I have the damned right of passage between the realms? As if I wasn't a sought after soldier to begin with.

One plus one should equal two, but with my luck those numbers are variables, like saying mage plus blood magic is equal to power, no telling what other kind of result I'll get. Dislike? Oh yeah. Reverence? I had that before, but now it'll be a fair bit worse. Hate? I'm a freakin' apostate with blood magic, darkspawn taint, and plus I'm an elf. End result? Every reason to brand me as the reason for the fall of the divine, a figurehead of destruction, a "hero turned villain," Heh, nothing new there.

More time passed walking to the, to the… Oh Hell. To the Temple of Sacred Ashes. Another couple of fingers pointed at me, seeing that I was the one who went there first, effectively discovering it. Rather, the first there after the reavers.

Taint was in the air, the smoke was rank of it. Cursing slightly, I hurried to meet the source, which soon stopped me in my tracks. Lyrium, tainted lyrium?! Now things were just making no sense, only living things as far as I could tell could hold the taint, which meant, well, lyrium is alive.

A living thing in the veins of magicians, interesting. Was it a commential or mutual relationship? Bah, no time for questions like that, crazy fade magic in the air, right. back to business, warden work can wait. Wait a second, if I have the taint in me, then is the lyrium inside me tainted as well?

Looking back to the group, which had done effectively nothing, I spat out the words, "The lyrium has the taint. It _reeks_ of it, there are darkspawn at work here, or… the breach is a link straight to the black city in the fade. Honestly, I'm not sure which is worse at this point. We can't deal with another blight right now."

"How do you know so much about red lyrium anyway?" Questioned the ginger slightly bitterly, "I'm a warden, the taint is literally second nature to me. It's part of who I am, albeit regrettably."

"Also, I never did get your name, what was it?"

"Varric, from Kirkwall," He said nodding his head slightly, peculiar fellow. Reminds me of that Hawk guy, meh. Not my problem. No, wait, it is, it totally is.

At what appeared to be ground zero of the blast site was a demon. Unlike anything I had seen before. What looked to be ink covered robes of paper were on its wrinkled olive skin. Yellow, slitted eyes gazed out towards the breach, watching it in a look of awe, and hope.

"Ah, Beren Anwae, an unwelcome surprise. However, it is fitting that you are the first to meet a true primordial demon, you who had awoken blood magic without making a pact with a demon," The voice that spoke was like a soft whisper, but carried far too well in the havok around us. It was graveled, as though either used far too often, or never used at all.

"YOU'RE A BLOOD MAGE?!" Screeched Cassandra, thoroughly pissed. I growled lowly at her.

"I never intended for that to happen, but it did, so kindly shut up before I silence you till we're finished here," She flinched at the harsh words that sprang from my mouth. I then turned my head to face the thing in front of me, parchment, ink, words…

"You're a demon of knowledge?" I questioned softly, stating the name of the first sin. "Correct mister Anwae, that is what I am. I've come to… greet the one who would rule," I tilted my head to the side while narrowing my eyes in slight annoyance.

"And who would that be?" asked myself, slight danger in my tone. Judging by my luck-

He pointed at me. I groaned slightly, and pressed my head against my palms. "I've come to give you a gift, an old magic, the oldest magic." My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"But first, you must prove your worth. In a rather simple way too," The demon raised a finger between my eyes. "You must kill me in order to take the knowledge I hold.

 _ **Well, there it is for now, I may or may not move forward, but I will say now, Corypheus will be much stronger than before**_


End file.
